Figs

Bees are good for pollinating your garden. Although they can be bothersome, bees certainly don't sting as rapidly (only if bothered) as wasps. If you want to garden in peace, the best time is in the evening when the bees are at their most dormant state and return to the hive.

Wiki s contributors share tips on getting rid of bees:

• It's hard to get rid of bees because it's sometimes hard to find the source. Here is a great bee trap. Take a plastic pop bottle (16 or 20 oz. will do) cut the top off and insert it in upside down. put a couple oz.'s of mt.dew at the bottom. The bees will go straight to it and leave you alone on your porch. Make a couple of them and empty and change pop once a week.
• Instead of drawing them closer with a soda bottle filled with yummies, drive them away. Simply place a handful of mothballs in a knee-high sock or pantyhose of sorts. Hang it in your yard. You may need to put up more than one if it is a large area.
• Our local hardware store sells a chemical spray that normally is used for other bugs it's called spectracide and if you look on the back of the label you will find that it kills bees. It works and it only cost about $7.00. if you don't mind mixing it yourself you can get it for about $5.00.
• Try calling some of your local bee farmers. Sometimes, they will come and get the hive for free. If they can get to it.
• You can also use a "smoker" that beekeepers use to calm the bees down. It's harmless to birds and pets. If you want to know where the hive(s) is then just wait until just before the sun sets and follow one or two bees. They always go back to the hive by evening.
• There have been many excellent resolutions to this problem on the board, but I think I'm going to try the pop bottle one first. I don't really want to kill the bees off. The hive in some cases may not even be on your property. I've had hives around (usually in trees or by eaves) and haven't found that they attack. Actually, I've had them land on me and I have actually brushed them off without a sting. Wasps and hornets are the ones that are vicious. Check it out and be sure it's a bee. Bees are fatter, hornets and wasps are thin and longer.
• If you really don't want the bees around or you or someone in your family is allergic to them (keep antihistamines around) then try getting the beekeeper. Believe it or not, hives can be carefully removed by smoking and it's controlled.
• I live in Canada and wasps (also mud wasps) or hornets are the ones we don't like here. They love food so are pesky when having BBQs, and certainly don't like some colors (dress in white when out in the garden) and if you wear bright colors then you're asking for trouble. I had a wasp nest in my attic that was huge. I got an exterminator up because I was fearful that the hive would become so big it would come through the ceiling. My husband thought I was out of my mind believe this theory, but indeed, the exterminator said he has seen this happen. Not only that they can get into your vents and into your house.
• First you need to find the nest. Then at night, spray it with any insect killing poison while they are sleeping. Be quiet and just in case, wear protective clothing.
• If you know where the nest is and there are hundreds of bees, you can try something that worked for us. We put a bug zapper right in front of the "main entrance" of their nest while they were sleeping at night. We then turned it on during the day. As they flew in and out they died by the hundreds. After a few days I think they either moved to a safer location or we had killed them all.
• I tried the "bug zapper". It took a day or two but it worked. Now I just have to sweep up the dead bees.
• I once read that putting a bowl of vinegar on the table while you are eating, keeps them away. We tried it and it definitely seemed to work.
• We had a hive inside of a window frame so we took a rag covered in rubbing alcohol placed in to cover the hole and the bees could not get back in or out.

• I had bees that nested in the wall underneath my front window. I did 2 things simultaneously:

1. I placed a bucket of soapy water right in front of the opening and every day I have to clean it out because I get 50-100 bees that hit the water and drowned. The soap causes them not to be able to fly.
2. Second, I used a fly strip, the ones that are in cylinders. I just hung two right outside the opening; within one day, they were both covered be bees. It was almost amusing watching them try to get themselves unstuck. Within a few weeks, all the bees were gone.

• I have had a similar problem with some bees in a wall. There is an insecticide called "Sevin" that is available in a dust and liquid form. It is highly toxic to bees and will spread from bee to bee. They were gone/dead after two days. Spray or dust them after dusk. You will have to cover the access way to the hive or other bees will find and use it in the future.
• Use a wet-dri vac. Put at entrance turn it on and sucks them up fast and to make sure they are dead spray some bee killer in the hose to while its running. Kills them fast and easy to dispose of too.
• I agree with the one about a bee keeper. This is the way my grandfather made his living. He sold queen bees and honey and feed his 10 children on this living. Why kill a bee when someone can profit from them?
• Be careful with the bees that nest in your walls. I had hundreds of bees, in my wall, that were coming in from a tiny hole under an outside wall mounted light. I am deathly afraid of bees. I didn't even use that entrance way which led to our deck and pool. I thought about sticking something in the hole so they couldn't get in or out but I called an exterminator instead. They came out and sprayed this white powder (don't remember what it was). The exterminator told me that it was a good thing that I didn't block the entrance way. He said they would have eventually burrowed through the drywall. I would have had hundreds of bees in my house!
• Here is the "rub" with getting rid of bees. The longer you wait to get rid of them, the larger the comb becomes. Say that you are successful with getting the bees to leave with the bug zapper, or the Sevin, or any of the other ways mentioned. The comb is still there. Then the mice and rats come to get at the comb. If it is big enough the rodents can live there for a long time. They eat the wax and the honey. So getting rid of the bees is just the beginning. I don't think there is a single answer to all of the bee issues. However, preventive maintenance can greatly help. You need to go around your house and caulk all of the obvious holes: the bees have to have a way to get in. After they've gotten in it is too late. As was said above, if you block their egress hole they'll bore into your house somewhere and you'll have a jolly good time. And, where they bore in through the drywall is no assurance that is where their hive is. What I favor is using Sevin in liquid form applied with a spray applicator making sure that all of your body parts are well covered including your face and hands. Bees can sting through cloth when they are mad. So make sure your clothes are thick even to the point of wearing two layers. Then, after your done immediately wash everything. Follow manufacturer's specifications for application of Sevin strictly. Even if you thoroughly wet down the area behind the egress hole you may have to come back again later so not permanently block the hole until your sure all of the bees are dead. As to the comb left behind the wall, this could be problematical. Cost-wise it may be better to leave it and just wait and see if rodents or more bees come to get at the comb. Eventually if left alone the honey will dry into sugar crystals and the wax will desiccate and shrink.
• I am a beekeeper. If you indeed have honeybees in your wall, you have a few options.

  1. Call a pest control person, who will kill the bees with poison. If he/she is thorough, he will then open up the wall, remove the dead bees and comb, and seal up the outside entrance so you are not re-infested. You will then need to patch up the wall (or hire a contractor to do so). There are 2 drawbacks with this approach: a) You and your home have been exposed to poison; b) The pest control person can be expensive.

  2. Call a beekeeper. You should be able to locate one by contacting your State or County beekeeper's organization. Sometimes your local fire company or the police may be able to refer you to a beekeeper. Be sure the beekeeper is experienced with "removals." He should be able to provide references, and should have the proper equipment including a "bee vac" as well as ladders, power saw(s), hand saw(s), and other tools. Beekeepers are often motivated by the fact that at the end of the removal, they will own a new queen and swarm of bees. For this reason, a beekeeper is likely to be less expensive than a pest control person. If the beekeeper is planning to capture the swarm and queen alive, he will not use poisons on the bees, and you and your home will not be exposed to any poisons. You even may be able to convince the beekeeper (beforehand) to share any honey he collects from the hive over and above what is needed by the bees. I hope you'll consider calling a beekeeper rather than a pest control person should you find yourself with a honeybee infestation.

• We had a swarm scout out a spot right near our kitchen door in between the stone sill of our old brick Victorian home. This site helped tremendously! We luckily had Sevin on hand, as we have a vegetable garden. We first noticed the swarm gathering and attempted wasp spray with little success. The next day, the activity was increased (like in a horror film). I did a web search and read this info.... We waited until evening when all were in the wall, and, using a turkey baster, we "poofed" the powder into the opening. After several minutes, the interior wall could be heard buzzing. Some did make their way into our home. They died within minutes. The next day, the activity was greatly reduced, we again waited until evening and loaded up the crevice with more Sevin. This time the interior wall became alive and many actually made their way inside through the wood wainscoting. They hovered in the kitchen for several minutes, and promptly died. It was an ugly scene, but we fortunately caught it in time. I read somewhere that if caught within a couple days you will have success. There were literally thousands of bees to vacuum up inside and out, but it's been a week now, and I see no further evidence of the colony.
• Call a beekeeper in your area. Honey bees are quite rare in some areas.
• The above poster is correct. Some Americans are not aware that there is a great shortage of bees in several states and scientists are very alarmed at beekeepers finding most of their bees dead in their hives. Without bees, you don't get pollination and without pollination many of our food sources would dwindle away. Don't kill them, get a beekeeper to come and get them.
• I had a nest above my bedroom bay window, in-between the inside ceiling and the outside shingled roof. One would somehow get inside every once in awhile. They can squeeze thru tiny cracks or gaps. I sprayed bee spray foam all around outside but it didn't help, I couldn't penetrate into where the hive was. I read this site and decided to try Sevin© after my dog was stung. I sealed off the bay window from the inside using 1.5mil plasting sheeting and painters tape. At dusk we used a turkey baster to "poof" the Sevin dust into the entrance to the hive where the roof meets the house. The baster didn't work too well since its designed for liquid. So we then fluffed the dust into the area from the can using a side arm motion. This was more successful, powder coated the roof near the entrance and bees were seen with dust on them entering the hive. About a dozen or so bees got into the inside where I had sealed off the window, some died quickly but others were alive overnight. Activity outside was reduced after 12 hours. I will check again tonight and give a final dusting if there is still activity. After all activity has ceased I will seal all cracks, holes, and gaps around the outside.

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FIG

Domain: Eukarya

Kingdom: Plantae

Subkingdom: Viridaeplantae

Infrakingdom: Streptophyta

Division: Tracheophyta

Subdivision: Spermatophytina

Infradivision: Angiospermae

Class: Magnoliopsida

Superorder: Rosanae

Order: Rosales

Family: Moraceae

Genus: Ficus

Fig trees planted at the beginning of the dormant season often develop root systems before leafing out in the spring. This can be advantageous; however, young trees are more susceptible to cold injury. Most fig tree roots are close to the soil surface and can easily dry out. Therefore, apply water to the trees as drying develops. If you observe slight leaf wilting is an indication of water stress, water more frequently during hot weather. Mulching helps maintain uniform soil moisture and reduces weed competition.

Figs do not require regular pruning. Prune fig trees annually during the first three growing seasons to establish desired shape. Generally, fig trees do not require regular fertilizing. Excessive applications of nitrogen can have a negative effect on fruit quality.

A fig tree will grow almost anywhere especially in Florida. To keep the leaves shiny use milk and a sponge. Beer and dish liquid use in a sprayer will keep the bugs off use 1 can of beer and one ounce of dish liquid. This is good for your yard too.

Choose a fig tree variety that will do well in your climate. Figs can be grown as far north as the coast of Long Island, but most do best in a warm climate such as southern California.

Select a location for planting. Figs need some sun to propagate well and do best in full sun. The roots are vigorous so keep the tree away from septic tanks and sewer lines.

Start a tree from a hardwood cutting by taking a stem with three or four joints and place it in a container with well-drained soil. Keep the cuttings wet, but not too wet.

Remove the suckers that form at the fig tree's ground level. The pruning of a fig tree is less work if you let it grow in a bush style rather than a single trunk.

Fertilize if you want to increase your fig yield. The fig tree does well without fertilization, but feeding the tree will increase its fruit production. If you're going to fertilize, do it during the growing season from spring until late summer. Spread it around the base of each tree once a month and then water it thoroughly.

Water every week to every three weeks during dry spells depending on the soil.

The Moreton Bay Fig (Ficus macrophylla) is endemic to the east coast of Australia within a range centred on Moreton Bay which is where it gets its common name from.

See related link for more information.